Lost in a Snowflake

This is Utah home of the "Best Snow on Earth" and until recently we had only a few dustings to our credit this year. One thing I love about homeschooling is that when it does snow we can take advantage of it for our break-or the day if like last year you only get one day that merits snowpants and sledding.

It had snowed. Mockingbird gets grumpy if she is hungry/sleepy or it's morning. All three of these hit hard one day and combined with a few clumsy bumps led to her wandering around telling herself how horrible she was. I tried to patiently keep things moving, but nothing was working.

 Eventually we all made it outside for our break. But it went on and on, to the point where I realized she was asking for some kind of validation that she is OK even if it was a terrible start to the day. She kept moaning until I had to take her by the shoulders for the kind of scolding we all need every once in awhile: "I know you are having a bad day, but I love you and if Anything happened to you I'd be Devastated. You are a wonderful, smart, talented person, just having a bad day. I know it's hard, but you have extactly 3 minutes to feel bad for yourself--then you are done and we all move on." and I turned and left her standing there.

Less than 3 minutes later, Mockingbird wandered around a bit then shouted out, "Look at these snowflakes! They're the prettiest I've ever seen!" And they were. gorgeous. Big, sparkely, and perfectly shaped. By the time someone ran up to get a cloth and magnifying glasses the majority were just clumps of frozen again. But for just a few minutes they were perfect.

ExamLand

 

I can't find it now, but somewhere there is a board game for Charlotte Mason exams at the end of a term. It was like a trip around a pond stopping at different places/subjects to talk about. I wanted to reinvent the wheel (as usual) and really enjoyed coming up with our own that the kids could color. I also made a little country version of each of them, not because we are "country" but because it seemed a classic option, and fun. They loved coloring themselves and deciding where to go next.

Homemade Math Manipulatives-Place Value

 

 

 

For learning place value, addition, and subtraction (especially "carry the ten") we use these little 1" square cardboard chips I painted, cut, and labelled 1, 10, 100, 1000. The more I use them the easier it is for my student-at-hand to grasp a concept.

 

This is actually an extra bit of lamination I snagged, but we also use clear tinted binder dividers, or clear plastic covers with a paper inserted to make it easier to handle and dry erase markers.

 

 

 

 

Other manipulatives I store in just little plastic bags, but these I keep in a craft organizer--easier to find and clean up, and definately colorful.

 

 

I have used workboxes and bins for each student before. With just two children to keep track of, the easiest storage for me so far has been just throwing a all the math stuff in a bin. It's all in one place and fits just right.

 

Pictured above are also fraction circles and bars I easily made with foam squares from the Dollar Store.

"Of Finns & Frames" or "Dates with the Darlings"

As of today, we've instituted monthly dates with our kids and a parent. This month, I got Kingfisher & Bowery Bird.

Kingfisher and I went this morning to the Home Depot Kid's Workshop where this month's project was making a picture frame. I hadn't been to one of these in a long time and had just as much fun watching Kingfisher take his hammering and painting and stickering seriously as I did watching the parents take it just as seriously. I'm not kidding, there are always those parents who take their perfectly capable kids to a "Kid's Workshop" and yet the majority of the work ends up being done by an adult.
Of course we took our pin and balloon (kept in separate pockets), and got doughnuts afterward.

Bowery Bird and I went out this afternoon to another BYU International Cinema film. This time we saw Christmas Story. Not the Christmas Story everyone loves, and I personally loathe, but a Finnish version of St. Nick's beginning. Heavy on woodcarving and pure charity, light on commercialism and magic--it was a breath of arctic air compared to many American Christmas specials. It was Bowery Bird's first full length film with subtitles, and beyond the false start in Finnish--I don't think it even  phased her.
Afterward we exited the back door, and were lured into the science building with it's magnetic-manipulating gloves, perpetual pendulum, and giant crystals from Arkansas. I know--who could refuse?

Art Class: Ceramics 4

Repairing & Painting the Pieces

 

Guess I forgot to tell them to attach the head...The Very Vain Lady again, by 9y/o Bowery Bird

• Elmer's Glue worked slowly but surely for bits that fell off (like Frankenstein's bolt). Putting craft paint into baby food jars and no mixing allowed simplified things.
• This was a fun day that ended with a behind-the-scenes bit about clay animation, then a Shaun the Sheep episode.
• Students were told to bring pans to make moving their delicate works home easier...and some listened.

Penguin by 9y/o girl

 

Cat Piggy Bank by 7y/o Mockingbird "it turned into a leopard, mom"

 

Bust by 7y/o Mockingbird

 

Mr. Pickles by 12y/o girl

 

box with shelf by 7y/o Mockingbird